Ridgeblade Wind Turbines

bullit_dodger

I did some provisional math on it last summer for myself out of curiosity and if you were getting 40-50 decent windy days during the year, you'd payback your install costs in 8-10 years. Depending on how much you spent of course :-)

The problem of course with those residential (horizontal jobbies) is that they simply aren't feasible in a urban environment. Sadly. The vertical ones are probably more feasible, but you'll always have the irate neighbour phoning you or the council up to complain about a "sqweak".

If I had the space "out the country" and no immediate neighbours - I'd setup a 500W one.

jkforde

am out in the sticks with near constant southerly winds so considering it.. but how's it achieved in practice?.. AC from turbine first transformed into DC and then fed into inverter?

bullit_dodger

I was thinking the same earlier jk, as in how would I go about it myself. Not sure how much you know about these, so i'll err on the side of telling you stuff you already know but first of all, with a wind turbine you need a "sink load" for when the wind is blowing. It's not like a solar panel where the inverter will only "pull" down what you need. The Wind turbine will push the current, and if it's got no where to go.....that's "bad mojo". It'll most likely wreck the turbine.

Ideally, it'd be great if there was a way of charging the same batteries that we use for our solar, but I'm not sure that's easily possible. If i was doing it, as a pet project I'd probably have it charge a set of 24/48V batteries, and then hook them up to an inverter and use the juice somehow in a seperate circuit. Plugging in a mining rig or something into it. But I'm just shooting the breeze. Hopefully one of the more savvy heads here will suggest something.

bullit_dodger

Today here in Dublin.....40+ Km/hr wind. Has been for the last week really since the storm. Also with it being December, solar is pants generally, so a wind turbine makes a lot of sense. Neighbors aside :-)

irishchris

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118311838#Comment_118311838

I'd assume the solar batteries would charge anyway from the power created from the turbine. As soon as the solar Inverter detects power being exported it would redirect that to the solar batteries. I have two solar inverters here, one being hybrid and the other non hybrid. The hybrid inverter detects any excess power from the other inverter array and adds that to its own solar power to charge my batteries combined

jkforde

you erred on the correct side, base level of electrical knowledge!😆

so just been reading that some small turbines output in DC, so wondering why can't the inverter 'accept' this DC feed just like it does from a solar string, or would the two have fundamentally different electrical characteristics?

bullit_dodger

Not sure about the fact that they output in DC. I thought they were all AC, but they may have a thing called a "bridge rectifier" built into the chassis. I must admit, I'm tempted to get one. Your probably on the money Chris, but I'd be planking it that an over voltage would mess up my inverter/battery, so if I was to give it a lash, I'd probably setup a separate isolated circuit and move some load from the house onto it. Tumble dryer would be perfect for that, or washing machine. A freezer would have a lower load of course, but then you run the risk of food spoiling if the battery ran out of juice.

Sure it's not free, but quite manageable compared to the €6-10K that most of us have spent on solar installations. I reckon you'd probably get something up and going for <€1K.

That said, looking out the window here in South Dublin today after the windy week or so we've have and there's not a puff out there. In terms of priorities, I guess spending that €1K and adding 2x panels to my existing east array may be a better option.

<Sigh but I really want one - sad face!>

jkforde

I emailed Solis and they said that feeding any wind energy into their solar inverter will void the warranty. End of story for me at least.

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118316407#Comment_118316407

Well.. yes.

Most? small turbines are 3 phase ac then it's rectified into DC for the mppt. Even though the solar inverters run on dc it is very likely to be the wrong voltage.

Eg the solis need 120vdc even to start up.

For wind, it would need its own inverter no matter what.

bullit_dodger

That's why I was thinking a separate installation/circuit out in the shed where the wind turbine would charge a bank of batteries isolated to that circuit.

Now, just to be clear :-) this is sort of a fun project, not necessarily something that I'm thinking of a ROI on - but I think it'd be pretty neat if you could get a tumble dryer running on 220v via an separate sine wave inverter all powered by wind. I don't know enough about this space to pull it off at the moment, but that's part of the enjoyment for me....the learning.

slave1

could you not just buy a micro inverter?

bullit_dodger

Possibly slave, but I'm not 100% in what context you were referring to there. Again, it's sort of a pipe dream at the moment for me. At some stage I'll dig into it, but do welcome any thoughts you (or anyone) might have on how to do it.

reboot

I did start a thread on small scale PV and turbines to keep things simple and costs down.

I'm happy enough to charge 5v USB devices, and run as much of the property as possible on 12v dc,staying well away from inverters,planning and going into the grid,all the way up to 230 ac and back down again to 5v and 12v dc.

I note met office a few days back saying Lerwick in Scotland had 49 minutes of light in the Day.

The turbine I'm using supplies 5 Amps into a 12 lead acid supply, cost €200 , 100 Watts.Carbonfreeenergy.ie. Based in Mayo.

Just be aware of shadow problems when positioning a turbine.

Over 200 people looked at the thread,one person considered having a go..

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118360296#Comment_118360296

What sort of performance are you getting out of it?

Although 5amps at 12v is only 60w.

bullit_dodger

I really would love to give this a go. Sadly the physics not the money puts me off. The principle is sound to me. Even 60Watts you can do things. Ok your not exactly going to fire up the tumble dryer or charge your Nissan Leaf (not that I have one), but a phone charger is what 15-20 watts when it's charging? I like the idea that your tablet and phone could be wind powered! Would make feck all difference to your leccie bill, but the concept is kinda nice, no?

The problem is the wind. Everything I've read into it leads me to believe that in a housing estate the wind is too turbulent or non-existent unless your 50-60ft up clear of obstacles, as in 50-60ft up from the top of your roof. Mounting it 12-15 ft off the shed I reckon I'd be lucky for 15Watts, and at that it would be patchy.

Respect to you though for giving it a go. Kudos.

reboot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118361021#Comment_118361021

Your maths is spot on,they specify the 100 w ,at an off load voltage of 20volts. I've measured the charge current at 5amp.the total diameter only a metre and cut in speed very low.

Sure, your not saving anything really in money terms,but as some suggested you might as well just flick the mains switch,assuming there's always mains. It's missing the point,but either you see it or you don't.

I do detect , in the alternative energy debate,a "More and bigger is better." More solar panels, bigger batteries and inverters, more powerful EVs, faster and faster charging for EVs. More and more Hydrogen of varying colours.

Perhaps if we're not careful we'll end up back in the mess we've created?

Maybe use less,and start small.?

Thanks for showing an interest.

reboot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118361304#Comment_118361304

Thanks for your useful comments and fair points.

That's been my experience in the past and I've stayed away from them for decades for the reason rightly give.

The modern 3 phase turbine has a smaller cut in speed than I would have imagined,giving an output at very low wind speeds. To be honest I try to feather it out of wind some days, as you know a lot of turbines spin around in gusts doing little but wearing the bearings out and not charging anything.

This turbine is no more than 20 feet off the ground, and supplements small, 30 w PV panels.

Turbine €200, PV panel €40. Bit of fun,wee project in these dark days, worth a punt.

Not worth arguing over ,plenty of big threads afor that, not for me though.

Thanks for the interest.

bullit_dodger

I really like and respect your thinking here. It's refreshing to see someone doing something for the sake of "having a go as a fun project".

There's a lot to be said about low wattage/low voltage equipment. Many a successful person has setup a stellar config using low voltage lights, fridges, etc. especially in the camping community. The problem of course is that for the appliances which require more "power", you need the high voltages or you end up having cables the size of your finger to run the amperage. That's the trade off. Expensive cables or higher voltages.

reboot

Right again, however some game changers have come along. Its surprising how much light a one watt LED bulb puts out. and Chrismas Tree Lighting.

Bluetooth smart speakers, RF wireless speakers, set top boxes, ( I use mine for RTE Gold music station), Pond pumps. Fans in Summer.

All the above running on 12v or 5v dc. If 230v ac needed at a couple of Amps 97m,a 12v dc inverter is quite cheap. The 12v battery supply charging the 5v USB portable power banks, and 3,7v lithium rechargeable cells.

There's also a move away from AA batteries, ( one billion dumped every year), to lithium rechargeable.

EV breakers yards are near me, they are happy to sell 3.7 v rechargeable high capacity cells much lighter than lead acid,which loose 40% capacity with cold weather, lithium loose 20%.

A fun project can quickly morph into other directions, learning as we go.and no wallets have been severely injured in any of the above!

Happy and a bright Christmas.

bullit_dodger

True - lots of high quality stuff that's come on a lot in the last few years, esp in lighing which is 10x times more efficient now. Still there are just things that can't be achieved with without more power, such as heating, but I don't say that in a negative way only to acknowledge that there are problems that don't have solutions in the low voltage space - but I wouldn't let that detract me from setting one up. 95% likely to do a 100w solar instllation in the shed next year sometime.

Batteries. I haven't bought a AA battery in 15 years. No joke. I've been using rechargables in the TV remote, wall clocks etc since that time. If anyone is looking for a stellar charger, I recommend this guy.

Youshiko YC4000 (Official UK Version) Intelligent AA AAA Professional Standard Battery Charger with 1000mA charge current + USB Port: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

You can change the charge rates (I leave it at the 200mAhr default), tells you voltages, allows you to test capacity. The duracell AA 2400mAhr ones have been pretty good for me too. One of the best things you'll ever do is get one of these and a few packs of AA. I leave 2x in the charger or next to it all the time fully charged, and then when some device runs out of juice , take the spare ones which are charged and pop the empty ones in there and 12 hrs later all good.

Aside: Careful here with annoying Christmas toys that you are praying for the batteries to deplete to get some peace and quite :-)

reboot

Most interesting,agree ,forget Heating or cooling.

Also on the charger front,the project morphed into drones and their batteries.

A terrific and very flexible charger,will charge and balance any type of battery. is made by Turnigy.

Around €30 .lipo batteries are a whole subject on their own,particularly the individual cell balancing to prolonged their life.

After decades of broken glass PV being picked up after the storms, I moved onto lighter flexible panels,courtesy of Maplin at the time.

I stopped putting them on the roof once I realised I couldn't turn the house around to follow the sun, they're trackable, ie on wheels, the sun being so far away,a few feet don't make much difference.

staples7

Resurrecting this thread, Someone in the solar fb group mentioned these were on display at this years ploughing championships. Anyone got any experience?

purplepatchit

Here for the same reason as @staples7

graememk

Still vapourware as far as most of us know right now, Still very little actual information on the website, no specsheet etc

WildCardDoW

Agricam are the crowd doing it in Ireland.